US Treasury switches benefits to direct deposit

Richard Clark, 62, of Amarillo, has received disability benefits through the mail for more than two years, but when he moved in May, he got tired of making sure his check came to the right address.

“I had to keep clarifying my new address,” he said. “I had to go to the old mailbox because it was already in the system to go to the old address.”

Now, Clark receives his payments through direct deposit, and recipients across the country are making the switch, as well.For the first time in 50 years, the U.S. Department of the Treasury mailed out fewer than 10 million federal benefit payments in March, said Gary Beets, director of the Kansas City regional financial center for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s financial management service.

Beets said any new federal benefits recipients will start out with the direct deposit system, and the remaining recipients will be switched in March 2013.

The benefits scheduled for direct deposit include social security, supplemental security, disability and veteran’s payments, Beets said. They will not include tax refunds, he said.

If the 593,000 Texas recipients who still receive checks switched to the direct deposit program, the treasury would save about $6.5 million, Beets said.

About 91.4 percent of the social security, retirement and disability benefit recipients in the 13 counties served by the Amarillo Social Security office have already switched to direct deposit, up from 90.4 percent in April, said Liza West, assistant district manager of the Amarillo office.

For supplemental security recipients, slightly more than 70 percent have switched, West said.

That number is up from nearly 68.5 percent in April, she said.“That sounds low, but it is pretty significant because that is the group that sometimes doesn’t have a banking account,” West said.

For those who do not have an account for direct deposit, the treasury will load the money onto a Direct Express Mastercard debit card that recipients can use at stores and ATMs, Beets said.

Clark said the biggest benefit he sees from the change is the added safety of direct deposit.

“It’s better because you don’t lose your check, and you don’t have to worry about fraud,” he said.

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They didn't say it just now started. They said that for the first time in 50 years they mailed out fewer checks because more people are electing to receive them via direct deposit. They are also letting us know that all new recipients will receive them this way and that in March 2013 everyone remaining will get them via direct deposit. This will save the U.S. Dept of Treasury approximately $6.5 million. That is newsworthy. If you are going to criticize, at least make it something legitimate.

The same disadvantaged who would be burdened by having to show identification to vote are now to be forced to either have a bank account or to keep up with a reloadable card to get their government payments. How will they ever keep up with a PIN to use the card?

What "disadvantaged" people are you talking about? If they don't have identifiaction how did they register to vote? Are you seriously saying this is an inconvenience and this is what bothers you? Doesn't make sense.